D-96

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I recently stumbled upon the formula of a developer called D-96, which is supposedly an improvement over D-76. The metol and hydroquinone were reduced to 1.5 grams, the sulphite reduced to 75 grams, borax increased to 4.5 grams, and 0.4 grams of potassium bromide was added. It seems Kodak used (or maybe still use) to recommend it for their motion picture films.<br /> Does any of you have any personal experience with it? I'd like to try it out, as I have the necessary raw chemicals, but there are a few points I'm not very sure about, and I couldn't find a technical data sheet on Kodak's website.</p>

<p>First, will it work in the same dilutions as D-76, considering that it has less metol and considerably less hydroquinone? Or should it always be used full strength?<br /> Second, how does its shelf life compare to the one of D-76, considering it has less sulphite?<br /> Third, I can't find any development times. Are the times of D-76 good starting points?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>Found all this at Kodak</p>

<p>http://search.kodak.com/?pq-locale=en_US&global=en&q=D-96</p>

<p>My guess would be that it won't have a great shelf life, especially if it is a motion picture soup, and you might also consider that it may have been intended for regular replenishment.</p>

<p>don';t quote me. but I think it is the movie film developer suggested in the 5302 ( fin grain positive) film often used to make B&W slides from negatives.<br>

I usually used dektol to develop this fg positive film.</p>

<p>I beleive D76 was also originally formulated as a movie film developer.<br>

Kodak also had a D76H formlua that is almost the same as D76, same times etc but has a longer shelf life.</p>

<p>I have the formula around here somewhere if you can't find it and are interested.</p>

 

<p>Shelf-life? For motion picture developers? When a cine lab is processing B&W film, one's day's footage is enough to exhaust the developer in the tanks. Of course, they use replenishment, very carefully monitored. They have the fussiest customers in the world, the labs will mix new developer at the drop of a hat, rather than risk anything less than perfect results.<br>

D-96 is optimized for continuous machine processing with replenishment. Same for the color cine processes.<br>

So, shelf-life is not a design criteria of any of the chemicals used in motion picture processing. Nor is shelf-life a criteria in designing the films.<br>

One movie can be many master rolls of Eastman Color Negative. One movie is shot with master rolls all from the same production lot, they stay cold until the day they are shot, and are developed within 12 hours of being shot. There's no need to allow for long storage (especially at room temperature) between manufacturing and exposure, nor do they worry about long-term latent image stability.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. The formula attracted me because of the larger amount of borax (which should counteract the tendency of D-76 of becoming more active with age), and because of the presence of potassium bromide (which should help keep the base fog to a minimum). At first glance this developer seems to solve D-76's problems, while still being close enough to it to retain its benefits.</p>

<p>Oh well, I guess the best approach would be to test it myself. I'll shoot some test pictures and develop them in D-76 and D-96, stock as well as 1+1, and compare the results. Then I'll mix another liter of D-96, store it for six months, then see if it's still good. I started this thread in the hope of finding a shortcut, of hearing from someone who has already worked with D-96, but on second thought it's going to be fun to do it myself. :-)</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>Can anyone suggest temps/times for processing 7222 motion picture film in D-76 instead of D-96?</p>

Vlad, you never reported back, what are your findings? Also, just FYI, I've been organizing a group purchase special

order of 4x5 sheet Double-X and it's a PRE order to make sure there is enough interest so anyone who's interested and

assume the boxes are $100/50sheet box, how many boxes would you want?

 

Go here and fill the form in with the box amounts and if the get enough he will order from kodak, we are half way there so

far... In 2 days! So just gotta keep the orders coming in :)

 

http://canhamcameras.com/kodakform.html

 

I was legitimately reading up on D-96 as a processing option for this stuff when I found this old thread, figured it was on-

optic enough to post, hope that's ok, and let me know your findings! :)

<p>I never reported back because I didn't make any tests. In the end I decided that D-76 was more than good enough for my purposes, and that searching for a replacement would be a waste of time. :-)</p>

 

<p>Rather than making D-96, try Adox Borax-M.Q instead.</p>

<p>In 750ml of water at around 52*C dissolve the components in the order listed below.<br>

Metol 2g<br>

Sodium sulphite, anhydrous 80g<br>

Hydroquinone 4g<br>

Borax 4g<br>

Potassium bromide 0.5g<br>

Water to make 1 litre of stock solution.</p>

<p>Use the developer without further dilution and replenish it with the formula below.<br>

In 750ml of water at around 52*C dissolve the components in the order listed below.<br>

Metol 3g<br>

Sodium sulphite, anhydrous 80g<br>

Hydroquinone 5g<br>

Borax 18g<br>

Water to make 1 litre.</p>

<p>Treat as Kodak D-76 and replenish it as recommended for D-76 in Kodak publication J-78.</p>

Thanks Vlad, just saw this response now for some reason. I'm working on a special order of Double-X in 4x5 sheet film

and I'm trying to figure out what developer to stick with for it, since kodak recommends D-96 I wanted to try that, I don't

like D-76 much but perhaps I'll try it...

 

Thanks.